11 Most Beautiful Video Games Ever

Video games gave been a ever present fixture in my life, for as long as I can remember. Seeing the first radiant glow from Pong paddles that illuminated my family's 20" black and white television connected in me the notion that something bigger than myself was happening. There was a world behind the glass. One that I could see, but not touch.

As technology marched on and I was granted access to ever more powerful computers; from the TRS-80 Model III in our public school to our family finally acquiring a Commodore VIC-20, I was completely held in the phosphorous gaze of a digital world staring back at me. And I, willingly, poured myself into the system, seeking to discover its secrets and having it reveal to me the possibilities that digital worlds have for reflecting the desires of their authors.

For many of the kids that grew up in the 1970's, the "Bit Baby" generation, we were the first in society to bring computers into the home while we were still children. The discovery of computers, through video games, opened up a world of expression that no prior generation had experienced before. It was the dawn of a new era in art and story telling that would forever change, and challenge, traditional forms of art. Video games are portals into new realms, possibility spaces that sit beyond our own where narrative, art, social reflection, and ambiguity radiate and we are left to discern, through our own moral compass, the resultant experience. No other form of art has the ability to provide such a wide swath of experience or opportunity to reach the mass population in a meaningful way.

The Art of Video Games exhibition, opening on March 16, 2012 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, will explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, paying particular attention to the striking and varied visual aspect of the games, while highlighting the persistence of game mechanics that remain constant from generation to generation. We demonstrate this evolution of the art form through eighty games, which were decided upon with assistance from the game playing public, across four genres, on twenty different systems that had a significant impact on American culture.

The Art of Video Games: From Pac Man to Mass Effect (Welcome Books, $40) is the companion book that highlights these eighty games and expands on the annotation that is found in the exhibition. Interspersed throughout the book are fifteen interviews with some of the video game community's most inspiring innovators and artists. From Nolan Bushnell to Tim Schafer, these luminaries discuss their philosophy, their passion for creating games, and their hope for the future of video games.

Within its pages, we present the messaging and intent of the authors and designers along with my personal dissection of each game and its impact on American culture and audiences. I hope that you have as much fun reliving the art history of video games in America as I have had in assembling this book.

Close



Video Games

of





While the majority of video games had plenty of straightforward action in them, a scant few could demonstrate a full world setting. Apart from text based adventures, which ran on expensive home computers at the time and relied on narrative over visuals, adventure games were almost non existent. Pitfall was the first home video game to establish the mechanical language that all action adventures, to this day, employ. Bolstered by the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pitfall set players in a jungle setting that communicated to the player how to engage it. Coupled with the first realistically animated humanoid figure on screen, Pitfall transported us from the shag carpet of the family den to a distant jungle adventure where danger and reward awaited us around every corner.

As Pitfall set in motion the mechanics for action adventures, The Legend of Zelda (LoZ) did the same for action role playing games, which are a sub-genre of the very broad "Adventure" genre. What set LoZ apart from its contemporaries was the sheer size and inventiveness of the world that the player interacted with. With a back story that was described in the accompanying booklet with the game, the player lived vicariously through the character Link, who was off to save Princess Zelda, reassemble the Tri-Force of Power, and defeat the Prince of Darkness, Ganon. This massive adventure, for its time, offered an experience unlike any other seen before in its genre and established the vocabulary for games evolving from it.

While not the first game to involve the character Mario, as the title implies, it is the Mario title from the 8-Bit era that refined the mechanics for the genre and became the baseline for Mario games moving forward. With large sprites, an overworld map that allowed the player to see the breadth of the land they were traversing, and establishing the iconic graphical style for Mario and the characters within his world, SMB3 stands as the definitive maturation of Mario games in this era.

Increased power in the Genesis platform meant that designers were able to tap into a broader pallet of color, animation, and soundscape. Drawing from classic cartoon design, seen in classic Warner Brothers catroons like Bugs Bunny, the developers at Shiny Entertainment built a world with as much imagination, light, and color as any classic cartoon. Doug TenNapel managed to bring humor, purpose, and conflict to the characters in the EWJ universe and created a design that bridged Saturday morning cartoons and this new universe.
Equally important in establishing this environment was the inspired soundscape. The sound effects, music, and voice are all pitch perfect in recreating the slapstick and wacky situations those cartoons were known for. Charm, whimsical design, and laugh out loud moments, Earthworm Jim was one of the best participatory cartoon experiences of its era.

Ever since the Disney movie TRON, and the works of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, we have dreamed of what worlds might be like inside the bitstream of a computer. While other games attempted this, Rez stands apart as an experience like no other. Visual realization of what a computer might dream about, fantastical art direction, precise and interactive musical score all combine to produce an absolutely striking piece of interactive art. It is one that transports the player, wholesale, into the world of invisible circuits and imbues their experience with a sense of urgency and importance. Able to create a rhythmic, trance like experience, players tend to lose themselves in the experience that is Rez.

Shadow of the Colossus is an experience that allows for self reflection of the player's own moral code within the confines of the game narrative. While the protagonist, Wander, has the clear goal of resurrecting his lost love, Mono, by defeating the lone colossi that inhabit the world and giving their life essence to Dormin, a deity that has the power to restore life to the dead. Knowing that he may have to pay a great price for his actions, Wander sets out into the world and it is the motivation of the protagonist and the player controlling him that creates the greatest rift. Knowing that these majestic colossi have done nothing to deserve their fate, as they fall one by one by your blade, leaves many players with a sense of remorse and uneasiness. It is the ability to allow the player to explore their morals, which must be compromised to progress, that makes SotC an important work of art.
(Image taken from The Shadow of the Colossus 2)

Portal is an example of the distillation of environments to their essentials, while providing an innovation in interaction that twists the genre on it's side. Set in a laboratory, the player must lead the protagonist, Chell, out of the lab to safety with the help of a portal gun; a device that can transport a player between two moveable portals. All the while, a sentient computer AI named GLaDOS is bent on toying with you, like a rat in a maze, before disposing of you. While essentially a puzzle/strategy game at its core, Portal manages to create an environment of uneasiness that is partially tamed with the often hilarious dialog offered by GLaDOS through the experience. The player always has the sense that someone was just there before them, and you don't know where they have gone. This builds anticipation in the experience and it is not until you get to the end that you discover the horrible truth behind your captor and those that went before you. Beautiful, sterile, and unnerving, Portal is a mind bending experience.

In this adventure, we can sense the pinnacle of Mario's evolution through his transformation from side scrolling action adventurer to 3D action hero. Impossibly bright and candy colored, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the refinement of the 3D form for Mario, first seen in Super Mario 64, and lays the final mechanics that are appropriated in other Mario based games moving forward. The internal, consistent logic of the world that Mario inhabits, coupled with an amazing sense of solidity of the environments, allows the player to more completely engage in exploring the world of Mario. The sense of childlike wonder that the environment conveys is both inviting and full of magical moments.
There is no deeper story behind Super Mario Galaxy 2 than any other Mario game. But that is not where the magic of Mario lies. It is within the experience that each player has, when we allow ourselves to perceive the world as full of magic and wonder, and revel in the exploration of a world that dreams are made of.

Uncharted 2 is the closest example, to date, of an interactive action movie that most players are likely to experience. Set in real world locations against the legend of Marco Polo and his lost, sunken treasure, Uncharted 2 brings the best of big action, exotic locals, and impossible, daring escapes into the hands of the player. While the detailed, breathtaking environments are stunning, it is the acting of the digital actors that brings the medium closer to reality than anything else. Watching the characters interact with each other, and their nuanced expressions and tone, lend an air of believability to their situation than most other games.
Add to this the personal relationships of the characters unfolding in the game and you have an experience that puts the player in conflict with not only protagonist Nathan Drake's mission, but his feelings for two of the other characters in the game. This results in the player often putting themselves in harms way, which can be at odds with Nathan's overall objectives.

Space opera is common in the science fiction community but what sets Mass Effect 2 apart from other games in the same genre is the completeness of the world the player inhabits. By this, it is meant that every action by the player has lasting and real repercussions for the protagonist, Commander Shepard. Choosing how to act towards squad mates or other characters in the world will have lasting repercussions that can effect the ultimate ending of the game.
Combined with lush, detailed environments, camera positioning that adds more dramatic impact to interactions with other characters, and nuance in dialog, Mass Effect builds upon these mechanics form other, earlier BioWare games and results in a more complete and solid experience. The striking visuals, ability to customize Commander Shepard to resemble the player themselves, deep dialog, and unexpected turns make Mass Effect more of an event than simply a game.

Flower is an experience almost like no other. A poem in motion, the goal of designer Jenova Chen was to bring pristine nature into the home of the player, transported from the digital into our analog world. While there are environmentals that hold the framework of the interaction of the player and the world that these flowers inhabit is present, the game leaves it up to the player to make connection with the story. The overall goal is to move the wind across a variety of landscapes, capturing as many flowers in their wake, to breathe life back into a weary world.
While the mechanics may harken back to Pac Man, it is the environment that makes the game a personal experience for everyone who plays it. Flower will be different to all who touch the controls, but its result in bring a sense of calm, order, and peace to all who play it, is universal.